I was looking for feedback on some "newer" skydiving gear in the Gear section (of webpage, not forums) and found that it is terribly outdated. I was looking mainly at helmets (rawa) and canopies (atair) so I'm not sure if this is isolated or general problem.

It's nice to be able to read feedback from actual users and search function on forums for terms like "radical" (canopy model) and such is not very usefull (some additional filters for search would be nice, also results should really point to a single thread, not a single post, IMO).

What I will do is try to contact all/most of the gear manufacturers and ask them to forward us new products and adjustments that need to be done on the gear side, and I`ll try to freshen things up a bit there.

UPDATE:

I have gone through the process of manually adding over 100 new gear items to the database.

I'm going to sticky this thread for a little while, in the hopes of receiving feedback on potentially missing manufacturers and items which will allow for a more comprehensive database!

Just giving a thumbs-up to this whole thing. At least 2 years ago (& in various times since) I mentioned the outdated gear database to the admins, and offered my services in helping to update it. Up 'til now, it seemed like the gear database was seen as unimportant.

So awesome job for making this happen! Thanks! I think we're all looking forward to being able to separate the reviews out of the forums and into the gear section, where they really belong.

With some of the manufacturers releasing their 2010/2011 catalogues around this time we may get more very fresh items hitting the gear section over the next few weeks, so I'll do my best to stay on top of that too.

Under each category, a subcategory of "Discontinued items" would be quite useful. We have a large secondary gear market in skydiving - and while some people might want to go straight for a brand new Sabre2, other jumpers (newer jumpers in particular, who are very likely to use the Reviews section) often find themselves considering a rig with a used Sabre1 (for example).

It would be helpful for them to be able to see reviews from the past items.

I'm not sure what the best information architecture for this need would be - perhaps a sub-folder under each manufacturer & category? For example:

It took a few weeks of emailing several people before I found the right person to contact for changes. As soon as I got ahold of Bryn, things got done QUICK! :)

We have a Dbox for the CX-500 that we just released today. http://www.boneheadcomposites.com/...m.html?m8%3Aitem=601. We'll also have a new camera helmet and new full face helmet coming out in the next week or so. Should I contact you at your dropzone.com email for these updates or should I continue to email Bryn?

I can hold off on sending the new products until I have a few updates, so that you're not having to update them one at a time if you'd prefer.

Should I contact you at your dropzone.com email for these updates or should I continue to email Bryn?

You can go ahead and email me at my dropzone email. :)

And regarding the discontinued items, currently we have a system in place which allows discontinued items to remain visible and still get reviewed (as far as I know on the latter). It simply states "discontinued" in red text next to the discontinued items.

I have searched the Interwebs high and low for a review of the Garmin Foretrex 401 written by a skydiver. This wrist mount device (and a few others made by Garmin) have a mode called "Jumpmaster". It allows you to select the type of jump (HAHO, HALO, Static line), set wind speeds at 1000' intervals, display altitude based on barometric pressure, calculate glide angles, and navigate to a specific target once it detects a canopy deployment.

Would you please add this to the Gear section so skydivers can review it. So far, most of the reviews that actually mention the Jumpmaster mode on GPS review sites only critisize Garmin for including a feature nobody is ever going to use. Lets not let them get the wrong idea.